Gaborik, Backstrom lift Wild past Kings

Mar 16, 2008 - 4:10 AM

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Captain Marian Gaborik scored
his 200th career goal and Niklas Backstrom recorded his eighth
career shutout by stopping all 24 shots he faced as the
Minnesota Wild defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 2-0, on Saturday.

Brian Rolston also tallied for Minnesota (38-26-8), which won
for the first time in its last six games (1-2-3) and pulled even
in points with Colorado (39-28-6) for first place in the
Northwest Division.

The Wild's last win also came against the Kings - a 2-1 triumph
on March 2.

"Our effort was good tonight and we played a patient game,"
Rolston said. "They really sat back in the neutral zone, so it
tough to get anything through the neutral zone. We continued to
try to pepper them. Fortunately, I banged one in off kind of a
garbage goal, and then Gabby gets one in the end. So it was a
good win for us."

Backstrom stopped seven shots in both the first and second
periods and 10 in the third for his third shutout of his season.
The Finnish netminder started the season with two blankings in
his first three games.

"If we want to make the playoffs, that's the way it has to be,"
Backstrom said. "I have to be there and make the saves when the
team needs that and help them so they don't have to score four
or five goals every night."

Los Angeles rookie Erik Ersberg made 27 saves but fell to 2-3-1
with one shutout in six starts. He has allowed two goals or
less on four occasions.

Kings coach Marc Crawford did not fault his goaltender for his
performance. His team's play with the man advantage, however,
was another matter.

"We've got to connect on one of those five (power plays),"
Crawford said. "If we would have connected on one of those
five, we got a chance to get the game into overtime. So this is
one where our power play has to take some ownership of our
performance tonight.

"Our penalty kills were great. Our goaltending has been great.
I thought our effort has been really good, but you need
sometimes to be direct and play the game and see how it unfolds.
And tonight, it unfolded as a hard-fought battle for position
and a battle for real estate. Even on the power play, you've
got to play it that way."

Rolston opened the scoring with 5:49 remaining in the second
period.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard wristed a centering pass in front of the
net, and Rolston was able to poke the puck past Ersberg for his
27th goal of the season and third in his last four games.

While it was not an aesthetically pleasing goal, Minnesota wild
coach Jacques Lemaire was more than willing to take it.

"You know we were talking about that," Lemaire said. "We have
to work the net, we have to try to tip pucks. And if you
remember, there's a lot of good shots that were right in the
goalie's chest. There's a lot of pucks that (Ersberg)
swallowed. I just felt that if we hit the corner, we would have
had more goals."

Gaborik doubled the advantage with 4:04 remaining in the third
period. After receiving a feed from fellow Slovakian Pavol
Demitra, the All-Star beat the Swedish netminder for his 36th
goal of the season and second in as many games.

"I tried to come out to challenge him as much as I could,"
Ersberg said. "He has good speed, too, but you have to try to
close him as much as you can. It was a good shot, he is a good
shooter."

After Gaborik recorded his milestone goal, the crowd gave him a
standing ovation.

"It was fun, it was very cool. These fans are unbelievable, so
I appreciated it a lot," said Gaborik, who has recorded a point
in seven of his last eight games. "It is (a big milestone).
Especially to score in a winning game. We haven't won in a
while. This is a big two points for us. It's nice to get that
goal in a two-point game, so it is huge."